


The Fling Before The Feast

by syzaw



Category: Heroes (TV)
Genre: Hotels, M/M, Road Trips
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-08-30
Updated: 2017-09-17
Packaged: 2018-08-12 00:40:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 7,817
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7913674
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/syzaw/pseuds/syzaw
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Zane taylor and Mohinder suresh are on a road trip...though "zane" is actually Sylar, the man that killed Mohinder's father and many others before. In a surprising turn of events Sylar realizes that he has a crush on Mohinder. How far can he get before Mohinder realizes who he really is?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. No harm

**Author's Note:**

> I spent a long time on this and it's really the only writing ive ever worked hard on so please be gentle if you give critique! Comments are VERY appreciated please...I'm hoping to do a few chapters of this but I cant make too many promises since my motivation jumps around so much.

Mohinder had been contacted by Zane Taylor in Virginia to help with and study his newly acquired abilities, but Sylar got to him first. He murdered Zane in order to acquire his abilities and was surprised to see Mohinder show up at the door. This led to him improvising and impersonating Zane in order to gain Mohinder's trust. After giving him Zane's DNA and narrowly avoid detection he and Mohinder agreed to work together to talk to people with abilities both to further his research and warn them about the many dangers those with abilities were to face. Sylar, being one of those.

  
The first stop was a woman Montana named Dale Smither. Though he was incredibly tempted, Sylar held back from taking Dale's rather useful enhanced hearing ability. His main focus was the list of names and addresses Mohinder held. Killing someone so early on in their travels would have ruined his chances of getting more abilities than he'd know what to do with.

  
The two made it back to Mohinder's apartment in New York to see if having two samples would help. He soon concluded that they would need many more samples and decided to embark on a road trip of sorts to make their way through the list.

  
\--------------------  
Sylar sighed sleepily and shifted his body slightly into a more comfortable position. Before he had even met Mohinder he was on his own road trip of sorts and hadn't gotten much sleep. There was no harm in taking a nap while he drove them to their destination. He soon fell asleep to the calming pattern the street lights made as they passed by.

  
Mohinder was quite enjoying his time with Sylar. There was always a part of him denying the existence of humans with powers but now there was finally some concrete proof in the form of a new friend. Though they hadn't been traveling very long they found out that they got along quite well. He stole a quick glance at the passenger seat and smiled. It was technically Sylar's turn to drive, but he noticed that he had been tired lately and decided to let him be. Besides, he had too much on his mind to even consider resting.

  
He was still worried about the man that killed his father and where he might be. He was worried about all of the people he had yet to warn, hoping that he'd get there on time. He felt incredibly guilty for having doubted his father all this time and even guiltier for doubting Peter. He felt guilty for leaving his mother, Nirand, and Mira behind in India to continue his fathers research.  Full of worries, guilt, and confusing thoughts he drove in silence for what felt like hours.

  
All of a sudden there was a strange sound that caused Mohinder to jump and the car to lurch forward. He rolled his eyes and mentally scolded himself. How ridiculous, he was startled by Sylar's snoring. _This is what you get for overthinking things_ , he turned some music on hoping to distract himself. He wondered some more about 'Zane' and how he was so willing on dropping everything to travel with him. He wondered what his life must have been like before discovering his abilities.

  
"So...Why didn't you wake me up?" Sylar sat up and turned to Mohinder, his eyelids still heavy from sleep. He had just barely woken up to see the first rays of sunlight hit the windshield and noted to himself how beautiful his surroundings looked bathed in red. How beautiful Mohinder looked bathed in the light.

  
"I didn't want you to drool on me!" Mohinder chuckled and lightly shoved Sylar's shoulder in a joking manner. The truth was that he was happy to drive in silence for a little bit. Though his own lonely thoughts could scare him or make him uncomfortable, he felt so nervous speaking to his friend. He didn't want to say anything strange to turn him away like he had so many times before with so many other people.

  
Sylar sat silently for a while questioning to himself whether or not Mohinder was blushing or it was just his imagination. "If anything I probably would have bitten you." He growled playfully, wiping the drool from his face and hoping that his friend didn't notice him staring. He looked out the window and narrowed his eyes, realizing how long it had been, "we should have stopped at a motel a while ago, Mohinder. You haven't slept."

  
 Mohinder's focus on his research and constant racing thoughts left him with many sleepless nights. He practically lived off of coffee and energy drinks. Sylar could tell from his even more disheveled than usual appearance that he hadn't been sleeping much at all. He smiled to himself, he was likely worried about the big bad Sylar. Despite the fact that he actually had grown to enjoy Mohinder's company it entertained him that he bothered him enough to keep him from sleeping. Sylar wasn't interested in killing him since he wasn't special. What would he gain from it? Mohinder was far more useful to him alive. For now.

  
"I'll be just fine, thank you very much." Mohinder smiled that adorably innocent smile of his as he drove into the parking lot of a rather nice looking diner. "I think we deserve more than disgusting gas station food for once, don't you?" He stretched before sliding off his seat and out of the car. He was pretty stiff from driving for so long. It wasn't exactly far, but there was a lot of traffic.

  
Sylar was left speechless, he was confused by the change of plans. Wouldn't it be smarter to get something quick so they could rest and then go to the next name on the list? Mohinder was so focused and he thought they'd be able to get more done sooner. He was used to having answers and this man was absolutely infuriating. "I guess so" He muttered to himself as he followed Mohinder into the restaurant with an expression somewhere between amusement and frustration.

  
As they were waiting for their food, Sylar realized that he was being watched. "what?" He narrowed his eyes. "Did you want something?" He disliked being stared at. It always made him feel like he was being mocked somehow. He felt his hands anxiously retreating into his sleeves, unsure of how or when he picked up that habit.

  
"I apologize if I was making you uncomfortable. It's just that..." Mohinder took a deep breath before continuing, "I just wanted to express my appreciation again for all of your help." He smiled. That stupid smile of his was contagious and Sylar couldn't help but smile back, "I don't think my research would have gotten this far without you, Zane. This is incredibly important to me and to be honest I expected to do all of this alone."

  
Sylar looked down, trying to pretend that his mood hadn't been affected so much by his smile, "I'm with you for completely selfish reasons. I want to meet them...to help them.. you don't have to thank me." All he wanted was a list of people to kill and abilities to collect. He didn't care about Mohinder's research or meeting more people like him. He met enough people to know that they were all the same. Selfish. Judgemental. Pathetic. That was what he told himself, at least.

  
"That may be true, but you've given a lot of your time and money to this." Mohinder patted Sylar's arm gently. He had to do everything he could to keep himself from laughing. He had a crush on him. Him. The man who killed his father. The whole idea was just too funny to him. He didn't expect Mohinder to get so attached so soon. He finally decided to look up and into his eyes, most likely to laugh at that ridiculous love-struck gaze of his. His eyes. They were full of so much more depth than he could have imagined and he wasn't sure if he'd ever manage to climb out of them. In that moment he realized that Mohinder wasn't the only idiot among them.

  
Sylar kept a smile on his face and tried to keep his cool. _Great. Good job, you're interested in him too_ , He mentally scolded himself. Mohinder was nothing special. He had no abilities  and he was obsessed with finishing work for a parent that practically abandoned him. Absolutely pathetic. It wasn't like he could pretend to be Zane for the rest of his life. The thought of having to pretend to be insignificant again revolted him. No. He'd have to tell him or be found out somehow. The question was, what was going to happen after that. The most likely scenario was that one of them would have to die, and he was determined to be the victor.

  
Mohinder pulled his hand away and tapped his fingers on the table anxiously. He was always a physically affectionate person, but he realized that he must have made him uncomfortable. He knew he had an interest in him, but he was trying not to let it show too much. He wasn't even sure of what his feelings were for him yet. He felt ashamed of his interest in men for most of his life and was afraid that his father would dislike him even more if he acted out on it. He sighed wearily and decided to put some more thought into it later. Breakfast was supposed to be nice, not awkward and quiet.

  
disappointingly, thats exactly what breakfast ended up being. As they headed out Sylar slid his fingers out of his sleeve and lightly brushed Mohinder's hand with his own. There's no harm in having a little fling before the feast, after all, he reasoned with himself. Mohinder took the bait and held his hand loosely for a moment before tightening his grip when he gained more confidence. Mohinder opened the passenger door for Sylar, "I think we should find a motel to rest in and then continue tomorrow."

  
"So we'll have the entire day to rest? Are you really that tired?" It actually worried Sylar if Mohinder was exhausted enough to take an entire day off. He was so focused and determined on his little self righteous quest to safe them all. It just didn't make sense.

  
"I'm not tired at all. I just want to set up for when I get more samples and perhaps study the ones I have a little more closely. I still have a couple of things I need to look into." He brought whatever equipment he could with them so that he didn't have to keep going home to continue his work. It was nowhere near a fully functioning lab, but it was all he would be able to have without proper funding. If he had access to the proper equipment and a team he'd probably have gotten a lot further in his research.

  
"So you won't be resting at all?" Sylar sighed and leaned back in his seat with his arms behind his head, "Are you sure that's a good idea?" He had never expected someone so smart to be so careless with their own health. Mohinder seemed incredibly determined to make bad decisions.

  
"I will get some sleep, just not all day." That was a lie, Mohinder was planning on spending all day and all night working and probably all morning before they head out to see the next person on the list. He was so close to figuring out exactly where the abilities came from he could almost taste it. There had to be something more he could do besides endlessly collecting samples.

  
"Okay." Sylar didn't believe him at all. In the short time he had known Mohinder he had come to recognize that determined look on his face. It wasn't all too different from his father, really. Chandra sacrificed his health, his family, and even his life for his research. He expected that his son wouldn't be opposed to doing the same. Except...for some reason knowing that bothered him, "How long has it been since you slept?"

  
Mohinder frowned at the question. He was unsure of how to answer because he had lost track of how long it had been. What little sleep he had gotten was disturbed by nightmares and sleep paralysis due to the violent nature of his father's death and the group of people that seemed to be watching his every move. He couldn't tell how much or how often really slept "Probably two days." He made up a number that seemed realistic. He knew there was no way his friend would believe him if he said anything less.

  
"You'd better get some sleep soon, then." Sylar hoped that he was telling the truth but figured there was a decent chance that he was lying. In all honesty he probably shouldn't have even let the man drive in his condition. "I'm banning you from caffeine today."

  
"What? Don't you think that may be going too far?" Mohinder laughed, "A little bit of caffeine is hardly a big deal."

  
"You need to sleep. You shouldn't even be driving." Sylar narrowed his eyes, he only just smelled that familiar scent, "You had coffee today." It wasn't a question. It made sense that he already had when they ate breakfast. He must have been planning to do all of this since before they even ordered their food. "You've double and triple checked everything. You said multiple times that you need more data more than anything else. What else could you do?"

  
"I'm not too sure, but I'm not ready to give up." Mohinder clenched his fist and slammed it down on the steering wheel, "There has to be something I'm missing." He felt so lost with his work and wasn't entirely sure if collecting more samples would even help. He thought back to an offer he got to fund his research, maybe if he'd accept help from them he'd be able to actually get work done. He pushed that thought away as fast as he could. No, those people broke into his home and very possibly had to do with the death of not only his father but his friend and neighbor Eden as well. They were nothing but trouble.

  
Sylar sighed and leaned back in his seat. He started to wonder if traveling to find people with abilities was even a good idea. It seemed to be affecting Mohinder's mental health quite negatively. "Just try to take care of yourself, Mohinder." He wasn't even sure why he cared. He was using him, after all.

  
"I've been taking care of myself for years, I'm not going to stop now." Mohinder rolled his eyes. He was used to his father never being around and he always felt pressured to help care for his mother.  He loved his parents dearly, but felt like he had to do a lot of things alone. He sighed wearily as he pulled into the parking lot of a dingy looking motel, "I think this is the best we're going to get."

  
Sylar followed him quickly into the lobby, looking around suspiciously. "Why not get just one room this time?" He suggested before Mohinder could say anything, "We can save money and I'll have the honor of watching you work." The truth was that he was desperate to obtain a new ability but he didn't want to leave so soon. Staying in a room with Mohinder would keep him distracted and make it harder for him to get away. Not to mention the fact that he had become fond of the man and wanted to make sure he actually took time to rest like he said he would.

  
Mohinder felt his face get warm and prayed that his blush wasn't visible to Sylar, "Well...are you sure about that? I feel like it would be boring to watch." In all honesty he really wanted to share rooms with him and get to know him better, but he was nervous about getting close to him. Who knew where life would take them after all of this? He didn't want to get close only to never see him again.

  
"Yes I am. I'll go get your things from the car" Sylar smirked and shoved him playfully on his way out. He decided to pay more attention to Mohinder, it seemed to be easy to make him blush. It was entertaining. He turned his attention to the boxes in the car. Mohinder packed more things than he had expected. It was almost as if he packed his entire apartment. He reminded himself that though it seemed like a lot it was nothing compared to an actual laboratory and the actual equipment he needed.

  
Suddenly, Sylar felt one of the boxes being pulled out of his hands from behind him, "I got that one, you can take the rest." Mohinder nodded toward the last two boxes, "there are some fragile things in this one." He led the way to their small motel room, noting that there was only one bed. Great.

  
"Interesting...I don't mind taking the chair." Sylar saw Mohinder glaring at the bed and nodded toward the uncomfortable looking chair in the corner of the room. "Unless you had something else in mind?" He raised an eyebrow, "I'm up not picky."

  
"Oh! Well..." Mohinder fumbled with the box he was holding before he settled it down on the bed, surprised that he didn't end up dropping it, "We'll deal with that when we get to it I suppose."

  
Sylar set the boxes down so he could help set things up as Mohinder cleared the desk. He was incredibly entertained by the reaction he received, "Where should I put these things?"

  
"I can handle that. Thank you." He started to set his things up along with his computer, "No internet connection. Of course."

  
"You can find what you need on the internet?"

  
"Well no, probably not what you're thinking of." he shrugged, not even bothering to look back at Sylar as he spoke to him, "I look up obituaries, news articles, that sort of thing. I keep track of all of the names on the list to make sure they're still alive and well."

  
"Good idea." Sylar kicked off his shoes before lying on the bed to watch him set up his equipment. The idea of him looking up obituaries made him a little nervous, but he was quickly distracted by the sight of Mohinder bending over to remove a few things from one of the boxes.

  
Mohinder grumbled and tried to stay focused on his work once he got a few things set up on the desk. He glanced over at the bed to see Sylar sleeping, likely catching up on all the sleep he missed, he figured. They hadn't been on the road long at all, but he assumed that he was more used to sleepless nights than Sylar was. He typed all of the names on the list into a document and everything he could remember about them. He marked their dates of death and tried to make a connection to the path their murderer could have taken, but much of it felt so random. He desperately wanted to search obituaries online, but knew they shouldn't spend the extra money on that. Not with him currently out of a job and..well he actually didn't know how Sylar made his money. He never thought to ask.

  
_Getting distracted again, no wonder your father didn't want your help. You'll never be as good at him._ With the silence came many unwanted thoughts. Regardless of how irrational they were he couldn't help but let them get to him. "This is absolutely hopeless." He slammed his fist on the desk out of frustration, "I should be able to figure this out. I actually found some of them. This shouldn't be so hard!"

  
"You'll get it." Sylar mumbled groggily, just barely awake. He ungracefully rolled off the bed and stumbled as he stood up. "I should get into something more...comfortable." He sleepily winked at a very confused Mohinder before grabbing his bag and heading into the bathroom.

  
"D-Did that mean something?" Mohinder called out as soon as he recovered from the guilt of waking his friend up, "Is that some sort of innuendo?"  

  
Sylar came out wearing a baggy t-shirt and boxers, and yawned dramatically "Not unless you want it to be" He gestured toward the TV in the room, "I'm probably going to watch some TV and relax on the bed, care to join me?" He flopped onto the bed and switched it on, somehow managing to keep his eyes on Mohinder the entire time.

  
"Hah well..I don't know..."  Mohinder pondered, recovering from a yawn of his own. "I suppose changing into something more comfortable wouldn't do any harm, though." He, much to Sylar's disappointment, changed into an outfit that included pants, "I'd go to bed, but I still have some research to do."

  
"Mohinder co-"

  
"I'll sleep eventually. It's still light out and I have to get this done. I can wait until dark to get some sleep."

  
"That sounds okay to me...Hey, can you do me a favor and pass me that?" Sylar pointed toward a water bottle on the floor. He grinned slyly as Mohinder approached the bed with it. "Thank you." He reached out with both of his arms.

  
"Oh, don't wo- AHHH" Mohinder cut himself off with a scream as Sylar grabbed him by the waist and dragged him down onto the bed.

  
"I think it's time for you to get some rest, Dr. Suresh." Sylar whispered, resting his chin on his head. He was incredibly entertained by how flustered the geneticist was. Exactly the reaction he had hoped for, "There we go." He loosened his grip on Mohinder once he began to relax.

  
"Zane...what is this?" Mohinder brushed his thick curls out of his face, unsure of whether he should be angry or...calm. He was calm. He was sitting on the edge of the bed in front of Sylar who was standing on his knees and holding him close. He felt so much calmer in this dingy New Jersey hotel with Sylar then he had in quite some time, "It's still light out, this doesn't seem to be a very good time to sleep." Excuses. He was nervous and as usual that meant he had to make an attempt to ruin things for himself.

  
"Then don't sleep." Sylar tightened his grip on Mohinder, "Just stay here with me." He sighed and let go, lowering into a more comfortable sitting position. His fingers tapped on the bed with anticipation and he wished that he had worn a long sleeved shirt to hide them in. Where did that habit come from?

  
Mohinder sighed and began to stand up, stopping when he felt a hand on his shoulder. "I..." He looked back and his voice trailed off when he saw the look on Sylar's face.

  
"Please."


	2. First stop

The two decided to go out to breakfast before they headed out. They passed by a small place on their way in that smelled so good they couldn't help but try it out. "Mohinder." Sylar narrowed his eyes when he saw him holding a large coffee, "We spoke about this."

  
"The ban on coffee ended at midnight." Mohinder shrugged, "I think I slept well enough to deserve this. We have a busy day today."

  
"It sounds like you have a caffeine addiction."

  
"That would definitely explain the headache before" Mohinder laughed until he saw the look on Sylar's face, "Oh please. It's not that much of an issue."

  
"Hmm...We'll talk about this later." He sighed and decided to concentrate on his breakfast instead. Mohinder's problems could be dealt with at another time. He looked around, "It's surprisingly nice outside for New jersey. Maybe we should walk."

  
Mohinder stood up, taking a sip of his coffee, "That sounds good to me...I am curious, though. Why do you hate New Jersey so much?"

  
"Well..." Sylar started to laugh, "I guess it's just something people from New York do. We just hate Jersey." He realized his mistake as soon as he saw the confusion on Mohinder's face. He was getting too comfortable around him. He forgot for a moment that he was going under a false name.

  
Mohinder frowned and put some thought into what he said. No, Zane was from Virginia. He picked him up in Virginia. He tried to calm himself down when he realized that he was probably just too on edge.  "What do you mean?"

  
"Are you okay?" Sylar feigned confusion, "Did I never mention that I was born in Brooklyn?"

  
"Oh..I just..." Mohinder felt embarrassed, "I suppose I've been overly paranoid lately. I thought there could have been a chance that you were spying on me for a moment since I live in New York and thats an interesting coincidence. It wouldn't be the first time."

  
"You've been through a lot." He placed a hand on Mohinder's shoulder, "I understand." He started to feel bad for decieving him. Perhaps in another life the two could have been real friends. How disappointing that things had to turn out differently.

  
The walk was longer than the two of them had expected since they had gotten lost. So many of the houses looked similar and the two of them had gotten spoiled by Manhattan's grid system. "So." Sylar began to speak, figuring that perhaps they shouldn't spend too much of the walk in silence, "What exactly are you going to do? Whats the point of this research?"

  
"Well uh.." Mohinder sighed and kept his focus forward, "I mean, there are so many possibilities. This research could change the world as we know it. I'm hoping to create an inhibitor t-"

  
"Such a waste." Sylar interrupted, "We were created to be special. Why not embrace it?"

  
"Well perhaps..." Mohinder looked up at him, "The information could also give abilities to those who deserve it. Those who'd treasure it."

  
Sylar smirked. That was it. He knew that no one could be so perfectly noble. No matter how kindhearted Mohinder seemed, he knew at that moment that a lot of his actions came from selfishness. He, like most humans, flawed and wanted to be special and better than everyone else. "What, like you?"

  
Mohinder looked away swiftly, "I... like to think so." he sighed "That's not important, though. Some people do have to have their abilities removed. In the case of murderers like Sylar it has to be done for public safety. As well as that..in some cases these abilities can cause illnesses or mutations, some being fatal. Removing them could save lives."

  
The answer was pretty much what he had expected. Oh what would Mohinder think when he learns that he had feelings for the murderer, Sylar wondered to himself. Would it cause him to be conflicted or enrage him even more? he began to hope it would be the first one. As time went on he found himself feeling less confident about having to kill him some day. Contrary to what Mohinder seemed to think, it was not easy for him to kill Chandra.   
  
Chandra was like a father to him but he had abandoned him when he needed him most. All he wanted was redemption but he refused to listen or help even though he was the one that made him into a monster. Perhaps if Chandra believed in him from the start...well perhaps things would have been better. "Sounds like you have experience with something like that?" He commented, not wanting to be left alone to his thoughts.

  
"Well..not necessarily first hand, but yes." Mohinder sighed and stopped walking, clearly deeply troubled by his thoughts, "I had a sister by the name of Shanti. She was the reason my father had begun his research and she's the reason I want to complete it. Her ability affected her body negatively and gave her some sort of unknown illness that resulted in her death."

  
"Oh." Sylar frowned and attempted to comfort Mohinder by touching him gently. Something he was not used to, "I'm sorry to hear that. It must have been hard losing her."

  
Mohinder's body stiffened, "I was too young to remember." His tone shifted from sorrow to fury, "I probably would never have known that she existed if I hadn't pushed my mother to tell me the truth."

  
"Perhaps they didn't want to upset you?" He reached for Mohinder's hand slowly.

  
"Let's just go." Mohinder growled, walking away quickly before a stunned Sylar could react. Why did his father not tell him? Surely he deserved to know? Sylar followed slowly, letting Mohinder take the lead. He was confused. Chandra told him about his daughter but he neglected to tell his own son? Why would he do such a thing? He felt his blood boil as he realized that the truth must be that Chandra was disappointed that Mohinder had no abilities of his own. He knew all too well the damage that a parent could leave by expecting too much of their child. He was more similar to Mohinder than he could have ever imagined.

  
He rushed ahead until he was next to Mohinder and patted his shoulder in a comforting way and felt a rush of anger when Mohinder shoved him away, "No matter the reasons your parents were wrong. You deserved to know." He tried to contain his anger, knowing that he shouldn't say any of the rude things he was thinking. Mohinder was rightfully angry and hurt and it wasn't the time to scold him. "Maybe you should stop working on this for your father and go back to doing what you were working on before."

  
Mohinder stopped walking and glared at Sylar, "I don't do this for him. I do this for myself." He hissed, "Human evolution is an incredibly important topic that many scientists choose to ignore and will likely continue to ignore. We have to learn more about this and what it means. Will humans as we know them become extinct, or will there be two different types of humans sharing the world? Is this new development a sign of something worse to come in the future? I intend to find the answers to these questions. My father might have started this, but I am not interested for his sake."

  
Sylar nodded, that made a lot of sense, "I get it. I shouldn't have said anything." He gestured toward the way they were going with his chin, "Maybe we should just focus on getting there and finishing this."

  
Mohinder grumbled in response and continued his walk. They weren't too far and just had to find the correct house on the street. He hoped that someone would be home and they didn't walk all this way for nothing. They should have just taken the car. As they arrived Sylar ended up being the one to ring the bell. He was more rested than Mohinder and didn't want the person's first impression of the two to be an irritated man in need of a nap.

  
"Hello?" A small child opened the door and looked up at the two, confused as if she was expecting someone else. Seems like there was no reason for Sylar to worry about impressions. Anyone with such a messy looking kid had no right to be too judgmental about appearances. It looked like she was recently playing with markers or something similar.

  
"Oh. Hello there." Mohinder smiled sweetly, "We're looking for a" he pulled the list out of his pocket to check the name, not noticing how hungrily Sylar watched, "Elisa Garcia. is anyone by that name home?" The kid immediately ran off without responding, causing the two to look at each other for an answer. Neither of them had a lot of experience with children and this behavior certainly wasn't common with adults. They stood around awkwardly until a rather tired looking young adult approached them. "Elisa Garcia?" Mohinder asked cautiously.

"Yeah, whats up?" She sighed as the child clung to her leg and brushed her messy hair out of her eyes.

"We'd just like to ask you a few questions if you have the time. If not then perhaps we can come again when you are available?" he continued.

Elisa groaned, "Yeah sure, come in. What did Johnny do this time?" Mohinder and Sylar were about to enter but they paused and looked at each other at that response. She clearly thought they had to do with something else completely.

"We're not here about someone named Johnny. We're here to ask you questions about yourself." Sylar butted in, "If anything strange happened to you or someone around you, maybe?"

Elisa's expression changed from annoyance to fear and she shooed her kid away. "What do you want from me?"

"Oh no, we're not here to harm you. I just want to learn more about people like you." Mohinder gestured toward Sylar, "People like him."

Elisa considered what they were saying for a while before turning to Sylar, "What's your...thing? What do you do?" she asked cautiously with her eyes narrowed.

He excitedly looked around "Uhh..I need.." he looked at Mohinder desperately as he fished around in his pockets, "I need an item that you wouldn't mind losing" Sylar continued when Mohinder made it clear that he was unable to find anything for him to use.

"Hold on." Elisa hurried into her home and returned with a mug, "So..what's this for?"

He took the mug without a word and placed it on the ground where he and Mohinder were standing outside. "Back up a little bit." He said, noticing Elisa approaching the mug. Once she backed away he passed his hand face down over the mug, causing Elisa to gasp as she watched the mug liquefy right in front of her. "Impressive, isn't it?" Sylar grinned proudly, soaking in Mohinder's obvious approval.

"Okay..Get in. Hurry." She looked around and backed into her house nervously, only relaxing when they closed the door behind them. "Why are you here? If it's to warn us, then it's too late."

Sylar stared at her for a while. Too late? If it were too late then she'd be dead. "You mean you know about Sylar?" He looked at Mohinder who looked just as confused as he did.

"Who? is that the man with the horn-rimmed glasses?" Elisa was confused, was there something else that was going on?

"Wait.." Mohinder frowned, "I've seen a man with glasses like that...He'd been spying on me for weeks...he even broke into my apartment. I thought there was a possibility but i still wasn't too sure since he wanted to work with me." He pulled a card from his pocket. He made sure to keep it on him just in case. Any information could have been useful. "If he were Sylar he would have killed me, no?" He looked at Sylar, "Do you think they could be the same person? Perhaps that was Sylar?"

Sylar narrowed his eyes. Noah Bennet. There was no way it could have been anyone else. He was surprised to know that he had approached Mohinder and even more so that Mohinder wanted nothing to do with him. It did make sense though, Mohinder didn't seem the type to want to keep anyone locked up the way the company did. He was too soft. On everyone besides the man who killed his father, of course. Sylar looked at Mohinder confused, noticing that he had been waiting for an answer, "Well...I think being what we are we likely have a lot of people after us so he could have been anyone. I don't think he was Sylar considering You're both alive here, though."

"I don't know what a Sylar is.." Elisa interrupted, "But that man...he was the last person I saw before blacking out for a few days. All I remember is waking up at home with Nora...Oh!" she turned around and brushed her hair aside, revealing two dark diagonal lines on her neck, "We both have these...and I think that's close to when we started having those uh... superpower things."

"You..both have these?" Mohinder studied them for a while, "So the child..?"

"She's like me." Elisa looked at Sylar, "or us, i guess."

"You say us but I don't think you showed us proof of that yet." He raised an eyebrow quizzically. "So...what is it?"

Elisa looked around and took a few objects off tables and put them on the floor, she then tapped the objects lightly. Mohinder watched intently as the objects began to float. It wasn't telekinesis, though. It seemed different, less controlled. "Interesting...it's like some sort of anti gravity affect.." Mohinder grinned widely, "That's amazing! You have no idea how much I appreciate you showing this to me Mrs. Garcia." Sylar narrowed his eyes. He didn't like Mohinder's attention being focused on someone else like this. It wasn't like she could do much with this ability, it was like a primitive form of telekinesis. Though it's not like Mohinder would know that he had more powers. Sylar imagined that if he did know he'd have been much less impressed by all of this. He was so jealous that he almost opened his mouth to say something, but realized how stupid that would have been.

"You can just call me Elisa." She giggled at Mohinder's reaction. She was so scared of this ability scaring people or being treated like a freak for it. It was nice to be around such accepting people. Though she did have a bad feeling about Sylar. Something seemed off about him. Those eyes of his made her uncomfortable and she wanted them as far away from her as possible. "You know what..I'm so sorry, you should come eat something in the kitchen. I should have offered earlier. I'd like to hear more about this whole Sylar thing." She led the two into her kitchen and had them sit down by a rather small table where Nora had been sitting and enjoying a snack.

"Either of you want some tea? I should have some green tea somewhere here.." she looked around in the cabinets and found a box after the two men confirmed that they wanted some. It wasn't long before the tea was done and they were able to sit down and talk.

"I've been really craving some tea lately!" Mohinder excitedly took the cup from Elisa.

"The last time we had tea was when I made you some, wasn't it?" Sylar grinned, taking a sip from his own cup as he cradled it with both hands. "It hasn't even been a week, Mohinder."

"It's much more convenient to purchase coffee in this country, but I greatly prefer a good tea." 

After a little bit of settling, Mohinder explained what he knew about Sylar to Elisa, which seemed to scare her quite a bit. Sylar was mostly entertained by the whole thing, though he pretended to be scared and worried about the situation. He didn't realize how little Mohinder actually knew about him. He must have been far too focused on his research and plans of revenge. It was strange to him that Mohinder put such an emphasis on the murder of his father and the whole revenge thing. He clearly didn't get along with him and was practically abandoned as well, so why did it matter so much? Perhaps even after death he was still trying to impress him somehow. "So..." Mohinder started, once the discussion about Sylar ended and they had relaxed a little bit, "What's the child's ability, exactly? I don't think you said much about her."

"Oh.." Elisa called Nora over, "Sweetie can you show them that cool trick you can do?"

Nora pouted and looked down at her feet, "But I'm not supposed to.."

"Only this time, okay? You won't get it trouble for it." Elisa smiled and stroked her child's hair gently, "It's okay."

The child looked up at Mohinder and Sylar and after a short moment the ground below them started to shake until Elisa calmed told her that she did a good job. "Was that some sort of..earthquake ability?" Mohinder wondered out loud, turning to Sylar.

Sylar shrugged in response and looked down at the kid, "That was really cool." He flashed her a toothy grin, likely looking more creepy than he meant to. He didn't mind children. In fact, he found their honesty to be refreshing. While her ability seemed interesting and possibly even useful, he wasn't all too interested in a child. It felt wrong to him. He knew from first hand experience how vulnerable children were and he didn't want anything to do with that. In fact he had some serious regrets about scaring some children in the past and after a while of consideration decided to leave them alone. They had enough to deal with.

"Zane?" Mohinder was holding two of those swab things he had been given the day they met. How long had Sylar been spacing out? "Are you alright?" Mohinder looked at him with concern.

 _He shouldn't feel that for me_ , Sylar thought to himself, _He has no idea who i am_. "I'm just tired, sorry about that. Must've been all of that walking." He nodded toward the mother and her child, "So we're done here?"

"Well..yes I suppose so." Mohinder stood up and handed Elisa a torn piece of paper with his number on it, "If you ever need anything please feel free to call."

Elisa nodded in response and walked the two out the door with Nora following close behind, smiling. She was so shy earlier, but now she seemed to have taken a liking to Sylar. Sylar smiled and waved at her as he left, feeling a twinge of regret for the child he had traumatized a while back. If only things could have gone differently. Oh well, the child was better off without her parents. So was Mohinder, actually. They just didn't know it yet. He was sure they'll figure it out once they remember how horrible their parents were. The idea of parents being good people sounded incredibly fake to him. Just all around unrealistic and he just couldn't wrap his head around it.

The two were mostly silent on their way back. It was still light out but they felt as if they had been awake for days. Actually Mohinder probably has been awake for days, Sylar realized. He was lucky to have been able to sleep just fine, but it seemed that Mohinder's focus on his research was keeping him from sleeping. He spaced out for a while, barely noticing that the man beside him had addressed him.

"...about how this is passed down, it's incredible!" It seemed that Mohinder had been babbling on and on about how excited he was to finally meet someone with a relative that had the ability as well. That made sense, he must've been wondering why his sister got one and he didn't. Sylar hadn't considered the possibility of it being passed down considering how ordinary his family had seemed. He sighed as he watched and listened to Mohinder talk, admiring the passion he had for his research. Mohinder stopped talking after a good while "I realize you probably don't understand quite a bit of what I'm saying...I should have taken the time to elaborate on that."

"Don't worry about it." Sylar grinned, "I know more than you'd expect. I think I got most of it. Besides, you'll have plenty of time to explain it better after we get some rest."

"Rest? Now? No, what I really need is to finally finish this." he walked ahead in a determined manner, wanting to get back to the car as soon as possible so he could set up the few things he was able to take with him.

"Mohinder..are you kidding me?" Sylar followed him closely and grabbed him by the shoulder, "Your obsession with your fathers research is getting ridiculous. How well would you be able to focus if you haven't gotten any sleep?"

"I told you, this has nothing to do with my father." he brushed Sylar's arm off of him angrily.

"It has everything to do with him. He's dead, he's not going to come back just to praise you." His voice was eerily calm considering the topic and he grabbed Mohinder's arm but was more gentle this time.

Mohinder shook him off with a surprising amount of force, "This has nothing to do with him. You're wrong."

"I'm..." Sylar took a deep breath, "I'm sorry. I'm just worried about you. It looks like you haven't slept since ages before we met and it's not good for you. You're always so nervous and jumpy and suspicious." he looked down and started to anxiously fiddle with his fingers, "I...could have said that without insulting you or your father..."

Mohinder stopped walking and wearily turned to look at Sylar, feeling bad about shoving him. Sylar was right, he probably hadn't slept since he got the news that his father was dead and he knew his obsession was unhealthy. He just couldn't tear himself away from it, though. Not only was no one else that he knew of looking into it, but his own sister had an ability. He had to know if there was any possibility of him having one as well. What if one of his parents did and kept it a secret from him? The fact that it didn't seem to be completely randomized frustrated him. Was there something wrong with him? No wonder his father ignored him and pushed him away, he was nothing compared to Shanti.   
  
"Yes you could have..." He sighed, "But you are right. Perhaps if i get some rest then I will be able to get more work done with a clear head." He gestured toward Sylar, indicating that they should walk together.

  
Once they reached the car Sylar reached into Mohinder's pocket to take the keys, "hey woah, what was that all about?" He shoved him away, but not nearly as forceful as he had before.

  
"I'm driving this time. You need to sleep." Sylar opened the passenger door, "Sit."

  
"You could have just asked me for the keys, you know."

  
"Somehow that doesn't sound as fun." Sylar smirked, "You've been driving all this time, it's my turn. Tonight we head back to your apartment after you get some sleep, sound good?"


End file.
